Character Profile: Aries Mu




Mu in the Battles of Sanctuary

After the Galaxian War, Shiryu wanted to have the damaged Pegasus and Dragon Cloth repaired, so they would be able to fight Ikki and his Dark Saints. Shiryu's Sensei, the old master, sent him to see the only person capable of repairing Cloth of Saints, Mu.

That's the first time Mu appeared in the story, as an otherworldly telekinetic living in remote Chinese Mountains. But before long, he would be meeting Shiryu (and other Bronze Saints) again, as the Gold Saint guarding the Aries temple.

The Bronze Saints tried to pass Mu's temple. Mu responded by attacking them and breaking Shiryu's Shield! Mu told them that he was there not to fight them, but to help them. While the Bronze Saints were perplexed, Mu explained that their Bronze Cloth had a lot of invisible cracks and would easily break when attacked by any Gold Saint. He told them to wait as he would repair their Cloth.

Shiryu and his friends really didn't want to wait there, since time was limited (12 hours), and their mission of fighting through 11 temples was nearly impossible. However, they trusted Mu's advice. It took Mu an entire hour to heal four Bronze Cloth. Then Mu explained that the Gold Saints were extremely powerful because they understood the Seventh Sense. Whoever understood the Seventh Sense would be able to use power from Macrocosm, instead of just from his own Microcosm. For the Bronze Saints to win, they must understand the Seventh Sense as well.

Bronze Saints thanked Mu for his help, and that's as much help as Mu was willing to give them. Though for a long time, Mu had already known the Pope was evil and Saori was truly Athena, he chose not to oppose the Pope directly. (In fact, we would not see Mu fight until Hades series in manga, and never in anime.) Mu would not lose his cool, so he would be in good terms with both the Pope and Athena. Therefore, we saw Mu remaining in front of his temple as Shiryu and co. headed towards the Taurus Temple.


Comments

At the first sight, Mu appeared aloft and mysterious, as he lived in a spire on the top of a mountain, with no one but his young apprentice Kiki. Then we started to know that he was also powerful, intelligent, and even-tempered through his actions. He was patient and always handling things with moderation. It was quite understandable that he became a favorite for quite a few Saint Seiya Fans, including myself.

However, as my knowledge about Mu improved, my opinion changed as well. There was always an air of coldness surrounding him, which made him different from hot-blooded characters of the story. No, we would never see Mu risking his life for friendship; he would not let his emotions overrule his reasons. Instead, we saw him staying safe while Shiryu and co. were fighting and dying. No, we would never find Mu daring to tell the truth, if his own life or reputation was at risk. Instead, we saw him keeping his silence about Pope's evil until the Pope was surely losing the battle.

This coldness is not evil like the ruthlessness of Deathmask. It is the coldness of pure rationality, the product of reasoning unaffected by emotions. True, even if Mu did act more courageously in this situations, the results might remain the same. But it's that "human something" mattered more sometimes, especially for a Gold Saint who pledged to live and die for love and justice.